Link: History, Incarnations & Appearances in The Legend of Zelda

That sounds simple until you try to explain which Link.

The swordsman who grows up in Kokiri Forest is not the same person as the ranch hand from Ordon Village, the knight-in-training from Skyloft or the amnesiac Champion who awakens a century after the Great Calamity. The Zelda series spans different eras, branches of history and generations of heroes, with the name Link repeatedly belonging to the person who steps forward when Hyrule needs him.

Sometimes he begins as an ordinary child. Sometimes he is already a trained knight. He has been a sailor, blacksmith’s apprentice, train engineer and rancher. He has crossed oceans, traveled through time, transformed into a wolf and woken up with no memory of who he is.

What stays remarkably consistent is the role. Link is the adventurer who goes where nobody else can, solves the dungeon nobody else can enter and eventually picks up a sword against whatever happens to be threatening the world this time.

Who Is Link?

Link is the primary protagonist of The Legend of Zelda series and one of Nintendo’s longest-running characters.

Most Zelda games place players in control of a young hero named Link, but the series usually isn’t following one man through an impossibly long life. Instead, different Links appear at different points in Hyrule’s history. Several games are direct sequels and follow the same hero, while others introduce a new Link with his own family, home and story.

Nintendo describes him as the courageous hero associated with the Triforce of Courage, alongside Princess Zelda and Ganondorf’s traditional associations with Wisdom and Power.

That connection doesn’t mean every Link begins an adventure carrying a piece of the Triforce. In many games, he starts with very little. The original hero begins with little more than a sword. The Wind Waker’s Link is simply a boy trying to rescue his younger sister. Twilight Princess introduces him working on a ranch. Breath of the Wild goes even further and opens with Link waking in the Shrine of Resurrection without his memories or equipment.

The heroism comes afterward.

Character Overview

Name	Link
First Appearance	The Legend of Zelda (1986)
Role	Hero and primary protagonist
Race	Usually Hylian
Associated Triforce	Triforce of Courage
Recurring Enemy	Ganon / Ganondorf
Recurring Ally	Princess Zelda
Signature Weapon	Master Sword
Other Famous Equipment	Hylian Shield, bow, bombs, boomerang, Hookshot, ocarinas
Notable Titles	Hero of Time, Hero of Winds
Notable Forms	Young Link, Adult Link, Wolf Link, Deku Link, Goron Link, Zora Link, Fierce Deity Link
Creator	Nintendo / Shigeru Miyamoto
Current Major Incarnation	Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom Link

Origins and History

Link debuted in the original The Legend of Zelda in 1986.

Even his name reflects what Nintendo wanted the character to do. Zelda developer Toru Osawa later explained that “Link” comes from the idea of binding or connecting things, while Shigeru Miyamoto has described the protagonist’s name in terms of connecting people together.

That idea fits the character unusually well.

Link connects the player to Hyrule, but he also spends most of his adventures bringing separated things back together. He reunites fragments of the Triforce, restores broken swords, awakens sages, reconnects kingdoms and crosses boundaries between childhood and adulthood, light and twilight, past and future, sky and surface.

His design was never meant to be that of an untouchable fantasy warrior. Miyamoto recalled that the Link of the original game was roughly 12 years old and the Link of Zelda II around 16. During Ocarina of Time’s development, he specifically pushed for Young Link to remain part of the game rather than making the protagonist exclusively an older, conventionally heroic figure.

That decision became one of the defining ideas behind the character. Link can grow into the role of hero instead of beginning the story as one.

Every Major Link Incarnation

There have been many Links, but there hasn’t been a new one in every Zelda game.

Some adventures are direct sequels starring the same hero. Nintendo explicitly identifies the Link of Zelda II as the hero from the original The Legend of Zelda, Link’s Awakening follows the Link from A Link to the Past, Majora’s Mask continues the Hero of Time’s story, and Phantom Hourglass follows the Hero of Winds. Nintendo also confirms that Tri Force Heroes uses the same hero as A Link Between Worlds, while Tears of the Kingdom directly continues the story of the Link from Breath of the Wild.

Other games introduce a completely new Link with his own home, background and place in Hyrule’s history. Here’s how the major incarnations break down.

No Two Links Are Quite the Same

The repeated green tunic can make the different heroes look more alike than they really are.

Nintendo gives many incarnations surprisingly specific backgrounds and personalities. The Hero of Winds is an energetic island boy fiercely devoted to his family. The Twilight Princess Link is a dependable ranch hand trusted throughout Ordon Village. The A Link Between Worlds hero is compassionate but notoriously difficult to wake up in the morning. Even the already accomplished Hero of Winds is described as laid-back and sleepy by the time of Phantom Hourglass.

They share the name Link and repeatedly fill the role of Hyrule’s hero, but they aren’t interchangeable versions of one character. Each has his own upbringing, relationships, abilities and reason for picking up the sword.

The games themselves provide much more personality than the shared name might suggest. Nintendo’s character archive describes the Hero of Winds as lively and devoted to his family, the Twilight Princess hero as a caring ranch hand admired by his village, and the A Link Between Worlds hero as kind enough to help even people who have opposed him.

The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II

The first Link established the basic template in 1986.

He enters a Hyrule devastated by Ganon, meets Impa and takes on the task of recovering the eight scattered pieces of the Triforce of Wisdom before confronting Ganon and rescuing Princess Zelda.

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link follows the same hero. Now older, Link discovers a crest on the back of his hand and sets out to obtain the Triforce of Courage in order to awaken another Princess Zelda who has been trapped in an enchanted sleep. Nintendo’s character history specifically identifies him as the returning hero from the original game.

The finer details of Link’s personality were still mostly left to the player’s imagination, but the foundation was already there: sword, shield, courage and an unfortunate habit of getting handed enormous responsibilities.

A Link to the Past and Link’s Awakening

A Link to the Past gives Link more of a background.

He lives with his uncle near Hyrule Castle and descends from the Knights of Hyrule. When Princess Zelda reaches him telepathically during a storm, Link heads toward the castle and quickly inherits a fight much larger than he expected.

His adventure ultimately takes him between the Light World and Dark World and places the Master Sword firmly at the center of his arsenal.

Nintendo identifies the Link of Link’s Awakening as the same hero. After his earlier adventure, he leaves Hyrule to train. The voyage home ends badly when a storm destroys his ship and leaves him unconscious on Koholint Island.

There is no Ganon to chase through Koholint and no Hyrule to save. Link’s problem is simply getting home, and doing so forces him to confront one of the stranger truths in the series.

Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask

The Hero of Time is probably the incarnation that did the most to define the popular image of Link.

He grows up among the Kokiri but isn’t one of them. The Great Deku Tree eventually reveals that Link is Hylian, and his journey takes him from Kokiri Forest to Hyrule Castle and ultimately to the Temple of Time.

When the young Link draws the Master Sword, he isn’t ready for what comes next. He sleeps for seven years before awakening in an adult body and finding a Hyrule transformed by Ganondorf’s rule.

Nintendo formally calls him the Hero of Time.

The 2026 remake brings this incarnation back on Nintendo Switch 2 with completely overhauled graphics, expanded dialogue, voiced cutscenes, modernized movement and a symphonic soundtrack. It releases November 5, 2026.

Explore our complete Ocarina of Time Remake hub →

Majora’s Mask picks up after Link has returned to his childhood. While searching for Navi, he follows Skull Kid into Termina and gets trapped in a repeating three-day cycle ending with the moon crashing into the world.

This time, Link’s identity becomes unusually fluid. Masks allow him to transform into other beings and inherit their abilities, resulting in Deku, Goron and Zora forms as well as the overwhelming Fierce Deity transformation.

The Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass

The Hero of Winds begins without any obvious destiny at all.

He lives on Outset Island with his grandmother and younger sister Aryll. On his twelfth birthday, island tradition has him dress in green to honor the legendary hero of the past. When Aryll is kidnapped, Link leaves home to bring her back.

That rescue eventually becomes something much larger.

Link receives the Wind Waker, sails across the Great Sea aboard the King of Red Lions and becomes entangled in the unfinished history of ancient Hyrule. Nintendo’s official character history gives this incarnation the title Hero of Winds.

Phantom Hourglass continues his story directly. Link sails with Tetra and her pirates until an encounter with the Ghost Ship sends him into another adventure, this time in the World of the Ocean King.

His wide-eyed, cel-shaded design later became known more generally as Toon Link, particularly in games such as Super Smash Bros. Nintendo also uses the Toon Link name for official amiibo based on The Wind Waker.

Twilight Princess

This Link has a job before destiny interrupts him.

He works as a ranch hand in Ordon Village, tends animals, helps his neighbors and is preparing to deliver a gift to Hyrule Castle when his quiet life falls apart. Nintendo describes him as caring, skilled with a sword and admired by both the adults and children of the village.

After entering the Twilight, Link transforms into a wolf and meets Midna. Their initially reluctant partnership gradually becomes the emotional center of the game.

Wolf Link has abilities unavailable to his human form. He can follow scents, dig, communicate with animals and use heightened senses to perceive things hidden from human Link. Midna can ride on his back and assist him in combat and navigation.

His human combat skills also expand dramatically under the training of the Hero’s Spirit, giving this Link one of the broadest sword-fighting movesets in the series.

Explore the Twilight Princess character guide →

Skyward Sword

Chronologically, Skyward Sword sits near the beginning of Zelda’s history.

This Link is a resident of Skyloft and student at the Knight Academy. He shares a close friendship with Zelda and has an unusually rare Crimson Loftwing as his partner. When Zelda disappears beneath the clouds, he follows her to a surface world that most residents of Skyloft believe exists only in legend.

His sword is initially the Goddess Sword, home to the spirit Fi. Over the course of the adventure, the blade is strengthened until it becomes the Master Sword.

This makes Skyward Sword especially important to Link’s wider history. It doesn’t establish one immortal Link who continues through every later game. Instead, it shows one of the earliest heroes in the cycle of stories surrounding Link, Zelda and the threats that repeatedly emerge against them.

A Link Between Worlds and Tri Force Heroes

A Link Between Worlds introduces Link as a young blacksmith’s apprentice living near Hyrule Castle.

His adventure takes him between Hyrule and its dark counterpart, Lorule, using the unusual ability to flatten himself into a painting and move along walls.

Nintendo’s character archive gives this Link a little more personality than his quiet reputation might suggest. He sleeps late, has a strong sense of justice and shows compassion even toward enemies.

Tri Force Heroes follows the same hero into the fashion-obsessed kingdom of Hytopia. Nintendo even notes one problem with this otherwise proven adventurer: he has no sense of fashion.

Everyone has a weakness.

Breath of the Wild

By the time Breath of the Wild begins, this Link has already failed once.

A century earlier he served as one of Hyrule’s Champions and as Princess Zelda’s appointed knight. He was already an extraordinary swordsman capable of wielding the Master Sword. When Calamity Ganon overwhelmed Hyrule, Link was critically wounded protecting Zelda and taken to the Shrine of Resurrection.

He wakes 100 years later with almost no memory of his life before the Calamity.

Nintendo describes this incarnation simply as a young man awakening without his past, gradually learning about the mission that had been entrusted to him.

The structure of Breath of the Wild makes this especially effective. Link learns who he used to be at roughly the same time the player does.

He eventually reconnects with the spirits of the four Champions, recovers the Master Sword and confronts Calamity Ganon at Hyrule Castle.

Explore the Breath of the Wild character guide →

Tears of the Kingdom

Tears of the Kingdom follows the same Link after the defeat of the Great Calamity.

While exploring beneath Hyrule Castle with Zelda, he encounters the sealed Ganondorf. The resulting Upheaval leaves Link badly injured and destroys his right arm.

Rauru’s arm replaces it, becoming the source of Link’s new abilities. Nintendo specifically built the game’s design around this altered arm and the theme of hands.

Ultrahand lets Link move and connect objects.
Fuse combines weapons, shields and materials.
Ascend lets him pass upward through surfaces.
Recall reverses an object’s movement through time.

Rather than simply giving Link a larger collection of traditional dungeon tools, Tears of the Kingdom effectively turns the environment itself into his toolbox. Nintendo describes these abilities as central to building, combat and exploration across Hyrule’s surface, sky and Depths.

Explore the Tears of the Kingdom character guide →

Echoes of Wisdom

Echoes of Wisdom reverses the familiar setup.

Link begins the story doing exactly what players expect him to do: fighting Ganon and rescuing Princess Zelda.

Then he disappears.

A mysterious rift swallows Link immediately after the battle, leaving Zelda as the game’s central hero. Nintendo describes this Link as a green-clad swordsman from Suthorn Village who carries a mysterious sword.

His absence isn’t a joke or cameo. It becomes one of the events that sends Zelda on her own adventure.

Powers and Abilities

Link rarely possesses one universal set of supernatural powers.

What makes him dangerous is how quickly he learns to use whatever an adventure puts in his hands.

Swordsmanship is the most consistent ability. Several Links eventually become expert swordsmen, while others begin with little or no formal combat experience and improve during the course of the game.

He’s also an accomplished archer, horse rider, climber, swimmer and musician depending on the incarnation.

Magic varies far more. Individual Links have used magical medallions, elemental rods, transformation masks, magical armor and powers granted by other characters. The Breath of the Wild Link inherits abilities from the fallen Champions, while Tears of the Kingdom gives him powers through Rauru’s arm.

Nintendo’s own description of the character emphasizes the combination more than any single superpower: Link gets through dungeons and battles with courage and cleverness.

Weapons and Equipment

Transformations and Forms

A few adventures dramatically alter Link himself rather than simply changing his equipment.

Not every one of these is a separate incarnation. Young Link and Adult Link in Ocarina of Time, for example, are simply the same person at different ages.

Relationships

Companions

Different Links are often defined by whoever travels beside them.

Navi guides the Hero of Time. Tatl accompanies him in Termina. The King of Red Lions carries the Hero of Winds across the Great Sea. Midna partners with Wolf Link. Fi guides the Skyward Sword hero. Ezlo rides around on Link’s head in The Minish Cap.

The companions change, but Zelda repeatedly gives Link someone to argue with, learn from or listen to while the player is busy breaking every pot in sight.

Timeline Placement

Link doesn’t occupy one point on the Zelda timeline.

He occupies many of them.

Nintendo’s official chronology begins with the Skyward Sword hero and eventually reaches Ocarina of Time, where history splits into different outcomes. The Hero of Time’s victory creates separate Child and Adult branches, while another branch follows the outcome in which the hero is defeated.

That is why multiple Links can exist without being the same person.

The Hero of Time continues into Majora’s Mask. A later hero appears in Twilight Princess on the Child branch. The Hero of Winds appears in The Wind Waker on the Adult branch. Other Links live in the history that follows A Link to the Past.

Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom take place in a much later Hyrule. Nintendo’s current public chronology presents those games separately from the older branching chart rather than assigning them a simple position inside one of its three traditional post-Ocarina branches.

Is Link Left-Handed?

Traditionally, yes.

Nintendo notes that Link is mostly left-handed. The GameCube version of Twilight Princess keeps his traditional left-handed sword arm, while the Wii release mirrors the game and makes him right-handed to better match most players using motion controls.

Later games such as Skyward Sword, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom also depict him as right-handed.

So “Link is left-handed” is broadly true of the character’s history, but no longer a universal rule.

Voice Actors

Calling Link a silent protagonist is slightly misleading.

He rarely receives conventional spoken dialogue, but he has had voiced grunts, shouts, gasps and other reactions since the 3D era. His performances are a major part of making combat and movement feel expressive even when Link isn’t delivering voiced speeches.

Some of the best-known performers associated with Link include:

The amount of vocal performance varies substantially from game to game, and older titles naturally contain little or none.

Link’s limited speech is intentional enough that Nintendo has repeatedly found ways to give him personality through facial expressions, body language and player responses instead.

Appearances Outside the Main Series

Link’s résumé extends well beyond Zelda’s main adventures.

Link in the Live-Action Zelda Movie

Link is also making the jump to live action.

Nintendo has confirmed that Benjamin Evan Ainsworth will play Link in The Legend of Zelda, the live-action feature directed by Wes Ball. Bo Bragason stars opposite him as Zelda.

The movie is scheduled to open worldwide on April 30, 2027.

Follow every confirmed Zelda movie detail →

Amiibo and Merchandise

Few Zelda characters have received more amiibo variations than Link.

Nintendo has produced figures based on several incarnations, including:

• 8-Bit Link
• Ocarina of Time Link
• Majora’s Mask Link
• Twilight Princess Link
• Skyward Sword Link
• Toon Link
• Wolf Link
• Link (Archer) from Breath of the Wild
• Link (Rider) from Breath of the Wild
• Link from Link’s Awakening
• Link from Tears of the Kingdom
• Link figures from the Super Smash Bros. series

Nintendo’s official amiibo lineup continues to support many of these figures across newer games. For example, several Link amiibo can provide items or special paraglider fabrics in Tears of the Kingdom.

View every Legend of Zelda amiibo →

Link has naturally appeared on just about every other kind of Zelda merchandise imaginable as well, including statues, plush toys, apparel, controllers and collector’s items.

Frequently Asked Questions